My mom generously made a pie crust for today’s tea, which I used for all sorts of mini delicacies!

Exhibit A: quiche




(four pepperoni, for the carnivores among us; the rest spinach and cheese for everyone to enjoy.) I know they’re not very pretty, but give me a break - it was only my second time with quiche of any kind, and my first time with minis!

Then, mini fruit tarts!




Made with frozen peaches and blueberries, because we didn’t have anything fresh - and much tastier than they look, I promise!

Rounded out with tuna and peanut butter&jelly sandwiches, for delicacy! See below: the full spread, in process of setting up.




Teas: English breakfast and spiced chai.

I am sad because I broke one of the cups when trying to wash it in preparation. It broke cleanly into two, so we’re hoping to glue it and then use it for something not-tea, but still. :(

We did this one virtual again, but man I’m finding this whole virtual life exhausting. I just read an article describing how this is actually detrimental to those of the introverted persuasion, because we kind of have to be “on” all the time and there’s no excuse for saying no to stuff. I am feeling that hard. I came to my mom’s because I didn’t want to be completely isolated (or do emergency prep on my own), but I’m definitely not getting the solitude I need here, and even less when there are virtual social engagements every day. Still, I’m having a lot of fun preparing and coordinating these teas - it feels like a creative outlet even when everything is so stressful that I can’t muster up the energy to write.

Didn’t mean for that to take a grim turn, I’m sorry! Regardless - enjoy the pictures.

1. Quarantea-n with my mom and stepdad! I came up with the idea yesterday and did all the prep this morning! And not only was it really fun (stress-baking is kind of a thing I do sometimes), but it was also extremely cute and delicious. I'm going to try to put some pictures up under a cut.
2. Getting outside and doing some trail maintenance, moving around - and changing from my dainty tea party dress into heavy duty work pants and hiking boots. It makes me feel like a woman of many layers. :)
3. Posted a fic for the Lock Down Fest on Tumblr. The resilience of fandom, amirite? I had tried writing around this crisis before, but I'd tried the angle of making the illness into something harmless in the hopes of harnessing my anxiety - and that really just fizzled. This time, I wrote about a different topic, but with parallels that allowed me to process a little of all the current feelings in a way I haven't been able to do through fiction yet. So that was really good... plus I haven't been writing a lot of fic lately, and it felt nice to finish something and put it up.

Okay, I'm going to try putting up pictures from the tea party under the cut:

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It's funny because... I complain all the time about not having a craft or not having things that I can really make, but... I actually really love baking? I don't do it all the time and sometimes it's really hard to motivate myself to start, which is a problem I have in many areas, but I really enjoy the process of mixing and measuring and making something I can eat (hopefully!).

...What I enjoy less is the panic once it's gone into the oven that it's not going to turn out the way it's supposed to.

Updates on the pear cobbler to come!

Edit: THE PEAR COBBLER IS A WIN.

Today is a day for chores and baking Aprikosenkuchen mit Streuseln. I haven't made anything from my German cake cookbook in many, many months, but it's always a bit of a brain exercise, since I have to translate and convert the recipes before making them. (And in this case, the conversions are even less accurate, since I have yet to acquire an actual set of measuring cups and am guesstimating with my IKEA glasses.) But it's also a fun brain exercise: I feel stretched and excited, and there's something about moving around the kitchen, owning the space, cleaning as I go, that makes me feel good.

I just really hope it turns out. The apricots aren't as sweet as I wish they were, so I sprinkled a little sugar on them (and then tried some honey, as well) and they're sitting with that hopefully soaking in. Also, German cake dough usually has about as much sugar as flour, so hopefully that will sweeten it as well.

I have little flashes of panic every time I cook, and there's almost always at least one moment where I become certain the entire recipe will be a failure. But I just have to remember that it's made out of a lot of good things, and it'll almost surely be salvageable in some form, even if it's not what it's supposed to be.

I also really need to acquire a cookie sheet one of these days...

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